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12 October, 2010

"For the last 18 months more than 60 groups of artists, creative businesses and community groups have been taking over once empty spaces in the centre of Newcastle, NSW, Australia under a program called Renew Newcastle.

Renew Australia is a new social enterprise being established to work nationally and internationally to support projects based on the same model. It will support local communities and take over otherwise empty spaces for low cost use by creative and community projects. The project has just received $10,000 worth of seed funding from a Social Traders program called 'The Crunch' and is developing a business plan to launch full scale operations in 2011. "

PortugalArte10 is the first in a series of biannual exhibitions in Portugal that will explore the latest trends in the global art community. For one month Lisbon, Grândola, Portimão and Vila Real de Santo António will be at the center of the visual arts, as PortugalArte10 presents major works from the leading international contemporary artists of our time. PortugalArte10 is distinctive for its focus on the following areas: commissioned public sculpture projects, single artist surveys, curated group exhibitions and site-specific installations addressing themes related to contemporary life.http://www.portugalarte.org/

The second Arts Activated National Conference bought together leading thinkers, artists, advocates, practitioners and producers from across Australia and overseas, to create dialogue about and showcase examples of excellence in arts and disability.

Over 350 delegates from the arts and disability sectors attended the conference, to debate, network, learn and be stimulated over two days. The program included 80 speakers, 40 breakout sessions, four performance showcases, a pre-conference dance masterclass and an international Keynote speaker.

17 September, 2010

Xu Bing: My formal training as an artist was in printmaking, this is why so many of my works are related to printing. In fact, the printing process is the exact opposite of the sculpting process. Printmaking is about taking a material with elevations and recesses and printing from it so that a three-dimensional form is transposed into a two-dimensional form. It is true that the process by which an artist prepares/carves the material to be transformed into a print contains elements of sculpture; but in printmaking this constitutes the mid-point rather than the end-point. Still, your observation is interesting--that this preparatory stage of print-block carving could be seen as related to early sculptural art.

This Festival of Ideas (University of Melbourne) session, chaired by Chris McAuliffe, looks at the phenomenal recent rise of contemporary Chinese art. Geremie Barme and Claire Roberts take a tour of the most significant works, artists and events of the past three decades, and discuss the art's reception and impacts both in and outside of China.

13 August, 2010

"This is an important case for artists as it means that they are able to bring an action against someone who sells and/or supplies fake works of art attributed to them on the grounds that it may harm their reputation, and consequently the value of their work in the art market."==="A Victorian Supreme Court case in March 2010 brings hope to artists seeking to protect their reputations against art dealers selling fake artworks. The case, Blackman v Gant,1 involved eminent Australian artists Charles Blackman and Robert Dickerson bringing action against the art dealer who sold fake artworks under their names."

Under the artists resale royalty scheme: * commercial resales of artworks must be reported; and * a 5% royalty is payable on some resales.

The Australian government has appointed Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) to manage the scheme.

Key features of the scheme: * it applies to resales of existing as well as new works; * it applies to a range of original artworks, included limited edition prints authorised by the artist; * it does not apply to a private sale from one individual to another; * a royalty is not payable on the first change of hands after 9 June, but all resales must be reported; * a royalty is not payable on resales for under $1,000; * the scheme will be extended to artworks from countries that have similar schemes.

"Q. How much has the art market grown by in the last nine years?A. Well it was around about $35 million total turnover in 1998 and it posted over $100 million two years ago and 150 plus last year. So it’s improved enormously. It’s increased enormously over the last nine years.

Q. That’s still small though isn’t it by international standards?A. It is. I mean ah Picasso’s Boy with a Pipe for example sold at auction for $120 million in America in 1999, I think. .so a single painting can sell in the States or England for the entire turnover of the art we sell in Australia."

============Dr. Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios is a researcher and sessional lecturer at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include art price formation and how and why economic superstars emerge in the auction market. Part of her research was the focus of a Four Corners program, Art for Art’s Sake, aired on ABC television. Art Mattershttp://wilsonanastasios.com/

12 August, 2010

"Privacy in a broad sense is under attack these days on a range of fronts: electronic surveillance, terrorism laws, growing police powers, business practices associated with information mining and marketing, and new technologies." Indeed, as Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating states, there seems to be no general agreement on what privacy actually means. In this environment, various law reform bodies have been struggling to develop laws that would enshrine some sort of right to privacy. In general, the media has resisted any such laws.Paul Keating considers these issues in a lecture hosted by the University of Melbourne's Centre for Advanced Journalism.University of Melbourne, August 2010

11 August, 2010

This exhibition of Melbourne-based artists is an investigation into the current state of printmaking. By highlighting the diversity and scope of the discipline its commonalities come to the fore: issues of tradition versus innovation, registration and interface, appropriation and the multiple. These ideas echo throughout the work, and yet they are a similarity which each artist approaches and answers in a different way.

============For the past few years whilst I was living in an Amsterdam canelfront apartment I have been working on a series of paintings depicting water, but using only lines. I was very interested to discover Christophe's paintings in Flinders Lane and to examine how he had resolved the technical difficulties involved. There are similarities in subject and approach, but the two bodies of work are quite different. Ed

Juliana Engberg discusses arts policy and the wider applications of the arts in society with Jill Singer. This is one of a series of conversations associated with the Dear Mr Rudd book published by Black Inc.April 2008

10 August, 2010

Art Censorship: the Bigger Picture was the title of this public forum that took place on 12th June at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. In this informed, thoughtful and sometimes passionate debate, Julian Burnside, David Marr, Clive Hamilton, Hetty Johnston, Ian Howard and Tony Bond addressed the topic in light of the furore surrounding recent censorship of the work of well-known artist Bill Henson. The forum, introduced by Margaret Pomeranz, was presented by Watch on Censorship in association with the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). Sydney, June 2008

I was not in Australia when this happened, so in some ways this is catch up time. I am happy that I have had the opportunity to listen to this discussion.

It appears that however wellmeaning, the opinions stated by the woman from the child protection agency (cpa) are coloured by her lack of understanding about art and her ignorance of Henson and his photography, an ignorance that she openly admits. A senior artist and his work have been taken out of context and dragged through the media for the apparent purpose of drawing attention to the activities of the cpa. It looks very much like a well intentioned publicity stunt gone horribly wrong. Ed.

In the much-anticipated Melbourne Art Foundation 2010 Lecture, artist Bill Henson delivers a vigorous defence of freedom of expression in art. In implicit response to the 'scandal' surrounding his work in 2008, Henson argues that we should be wary of governments and interest groups who try to impose restrictions on the free exercise of the artistic imagination, and that our zeal to protect innocence should not come at the cost of violating artistic experience. Following his lecture, Henson responds to questions from the audience.Bill Henson is one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists. His work is to be found around the world and in every major public collection in Australia.

========I was trawling through Slow TV's archive looking for more lectures to watch (and there are many) when I found this by David Marr. Unfortunately the question time is missing. Ed.

Journalist and writer David Marr speaks passionately and intelligently about the recent sagas involving photographer Bill Henson, which are the subject of his new book, The Henson Case. Melbourne, October 2008

Evan Penny is a conceptually based figurative sculptor and photographer living and working in Toronto, Ontario. Born in South Africa in 1953, Penny immigrated to Canada in 1964 and received his formal training at the Alberta College of Art and Design, completing his BA with Honours in 1975 and his MFA in Sculpture in 1978.

Penny has built an international reputation for his hyper-realist figurative sculptures that capture the paradox of an unreal reality. Employing traditional as well as contemporary sculpting methods, Penny molds figures out of clay, and then casts his sculptures in resin, bronze or silicone. While his earlier works were largely cast in resin or bronze, Penny's recent works have centered around busts or backs cast in silicone with resin eyes, implanted human hair, and custom-made clothing. Penny's project at large over the past several years investigates the relationship of sculpture to photography and virtual technologies, and the ever changing and unstable boundaries between reality and illusion.

29 July, 2010

Melbourne Art Fair, Australia's premier international visual arts event returns to the World Heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building from 4-8 August 2010

Melbourne Art Fair is an exhibition of leading contemporary art, presented by over 80 selected national and international galleries. The biennial event features paintings, sculpture, photography, installations and multi media art works of over 900 artists and attracts up to 30,000 visitors.http://www.artfair.com.au/fair/

13 July, 2010

IMPACT 7: Intersections & Counterpoints will focus on the multiple identity of the print, exploring the cross-disciplinary nature of printmedia internationally and in the context of the Asia-Pacific region. Printmedia will be explored as a heterogeneous, diverse and all pervading aspect of contemporary culture. Often located at the intersections of disciplines and media, it is also a powerful political vehicle, generating discourse and debate by virtue of its wide dissemination and ability to offer counterpoints to the norm. The conference addresses practitioners, writers, critics, artists, theorists, and others working in the broad fields of print-related research. It aims to provide a platform in which practitioners and researchers can engage in a mutually productive exchange. Media identified by the conference will include but not be limited to:

Materiality7th Australian Print SymposiumNational Gallery of Australia,Canberra 15-17 October 2010

The Australian Print Symposium has been held at the National Gallery of Australia since 1987. Convened by Roger Butler, Senior Curator of Australian Prints and Drawings, the Symposiums provide a forum to discuss prints and printmaking from Australia and the region. The papers presented by artists, print curators and art historians - have a major focus on contemporary prints and printmaking practice. For registration details and further information visit:

Keynote speaker: Glenn BarkleyGlenn Barkley, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, has a passionate interest in the replicated image—in all their various guises. He has curated the major exhibitions Multiplicity: Prints and Multiples, (MCA 2006 and touring) and avoiding myth & message: Australian artists and the literary world, MCA (2009).

Works of art on paper curators forumMonday 18 October 10.00 am – 4.00 pm A forum for curators and other professionals that havea particular interest in the collection and display of works of art on paper.

With some 20 speakers and over 200 delegates attending, the symposium provides a lively forum to discuss prints and printmaking in Australia and the region. The papers, presented by leading artists, print curators and art historians, focus on contemporary practice in print production, book arts, street stencils and the like. There will also be special tours of the National Gallery’s 11 new Indigenous galleries and Skyspace, the recently completed work by James Turrell. There will be associated events in local galleries, the Megalo Print Workshop and the ANU Canberra School of Art.

23 May, 2010

Together with Rauschenberg and several Abstract Expressionist painters of the previous generation, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Barnett Newman, Johns is one of most significant and influential American painters of the twentieth century. He also ranks with Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya, Munch, and Picasso as one of the greatest printmakers of any era. In addition, he makes many drawings—unique works on paper, usually based on a painting he has previously painted—and he has created an unusual body of sculptural objects.

James Kalm endures drenching rain to bring viewers a brief glimpse of "Jasper Johns Drawings 1997-2007". As perhaps the most recognized living American artist, every aspect of his enigmatic work is unique and engaging. Since his emergence in the late 1950s he has maintained a prolific practice of drawing, using unusual technique and materials to both develop new ideas and reexamine old ones. This show, which piggy-backs "Gray" at the Metropolitan Museum, is an opportunity to see the developments of Johns' current thinking.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pYCwzdVBYs&feature=related

James Kalm accompanies viewers through an historic retrospective exhibition of paintings by Jasper Johns. Gray, perhaps the most ubiquitous and miss perceived of all colors is the theme of this major presentation. Johns has exploited the coloristic and metaphoric potentials of this tone since he emergence as one of America's most recognizable talents. Covering nearly fifty years of painting "Gray" was organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, and sponsored by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

James Kalm reports on Jasper Johns An Allegory of Painting, 1955-1965 at the National Gallery of Art. In this exclusive report Kalm brings you footage of this exhibition by America's greatest living painter.

News 12th May 2010A celebrated painting by Jasper Johns which hung for most of its life in the bedroom of writer Michael Crichton has fetched nearly $29 million (£19.5m) at auction, a record for the artist.more

Unlike the layout of the exhibition, the Medici collection on the homepage is arranged in groups according to genres, devoting separate sections to paintings, sculptures, books, codices, textile art and the applied arts. By selecting the appropriate menu points visitors to the homepage can view the municipal building activities of the family under Florence, the family portraits under the Medici, and the works of art testifying to the ties between Hungary and Tuscany under Florence and Matthias Corvinus.=====

White Cube was set up by Jay Jopling in 1993 as a project room for contemporary art. Although it was one of the smallest exhibition spaces in Europe, it was arguably one of most influential commercial galleries of the past decade. Situated on the second floor of 44 Duke Street, St James’s, one of London’s most traditional art dealing streets, White Cube, Duke Street was, literally, a simple white cube, a room within a room, designed by the architect Claudio Silvestrin.

The central concern when establishing the programme was to create an intimate space in which an artist could present a single important work of art or a coherent body of work within a focused environment, an idea that in some way, stemmed from the memorable experience of Walter de Maria’s ‘Earth Room’ in New York. The programme was singular among commercial galleries in that an artist was invited to exhibit only once. Since its inception, the gallery mounted exhibitions of work by many leading international and British artists including Franz Ackermann, Miroslaw Balka, Chuck Close, Tracey Emin, Katharina Fritsch, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Ellsworth Kelly, Julie Mehretu, Doris Salcedo, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Luc Tuymans and Jeff Wall. White Cube, Duke Street closed in 2002.websitehttp://www.whitecube.com/

ART HK is the leading showcase for international Modern & Contemporary Art in Asia with over 150 galleries participating from 29 different countries. ART HK reflects Hong Kong’s ‘Gateway’ status in presenting a unique opportunity for collectors to see and buy work of a quality and geographical diversity not available anywhere else in the world.

Printfest is northern Britain’s only print fair held in a rural location and is dedicated solely to the exhibition and sale of original contemporary prints. It offers the visiting and local public the opportunity to view and purchase contemporary art works, meet the artists and find out more about printmaking.

Printfest 2010 takes place on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 May 2010 from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm.

Our Private View takes place on the evening of Friday 30 April from 7.00 to 9.00 pm.

Work from more than 40 national and international artists will be exhibited and the Printfest 2010 commissioned work by our Printmaker of the Year, Anja Pervical, will be unveiled.

11 May, 2010

For hours, days or even months at a time, renowned German printmaker Christiane Baumgartner can be found painstakingly carving still-life images into enormous blocks of wood. Using a sharp knife, every detail is cut by hand before printing onto handmade paper.

The images Christiane uses are taken from her own film and video cameras and then frozen in time onto the wood in her shared studio, a former cotton mill, in Leipzig, the home of traditional printmaking.

09 May, 2010

Sigmar Polke: History of Everything showcases Polke’s work over the last six years. The exhibition was initiated by the Dallas Museum of Art, and organised in close collaboration with the artist. Polke made several new works in response to the original Dallas venue, such as paintings of shooting arcades and gun sellers which refer to the renowned gun culture of the American West. Other works make references to the role of America in global politics, perhaps reflecting that the current leader of the world’s dominant superpower, George Bush, is himself from Texas. Notions of perception and the authenticity of images, and the boundaries between abstraction and figuration are also explored throughout the exhibition.

The presentation at Tate Modern also includes a significant number of works made specifically for London. These range from new examples of his ‘Machine Painting’ technique, to recent paintings using imagery from newspapers and magazines. Polke’s characteristically ironic sense of humour is evident in two large paintings that show images of nudist colonies, where naked men and women cavort in the countryside. These works seem to be a witty reflection upon Britain’s ambivalent attitude to sex.

Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden, Germany is showing a large retrospective of German artist Sigmar Polke. Sigmar Polke (born 1941) is one of the most important artists of postwar Germany. The huge exhibition at the Frieder Burda Museum in Baden-Baden combines the three major Sigmar Polke collections of Frieder Burda, Josef Froehlich and Reiner Speck. With its 170 paintings, "Polke - a retrospective. The collections of Frieder Burda, Josef Froehlich, Reiner Speck" is one of the most comprehensive retrospectives that has been organized for many years. Polke -- a retrospective: the collections Frieder Burda, Josef Froehlich, Reiner Speck". Museum Frieder Burda, February 3, 2007 to May 13, 2007. Impressions from the opening, February 2, 2006.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_7ptYYbvB8

07 May, 2010

The Peter Doig retrospective at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, offers a comprehensive overview of the artists’s work. On display are 50 paintings, a group of works on paper, and about 130 painted film posters. The show spans 20 years, from Peter Doig’s Hitch Hiker (1989-90) to his Man Dressed as Bat (2007). This video provides you with an exhibition walk-through, and Dorothea Apovnik (head of press at Schirn) gives an introduction to the show. Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. October 10, 2008.

Kicking off a yearlong series of public programs celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of MATRIX was this conversation between artist Peter Doig, who was featured in the MATRIX program in 2000, and Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, MATRIX curator from 1999 through 2005.

Peter Doig was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is currently based in Trinidad, West Indies. MATRIX 183 Echo-Lake was his first one-person museum exhibition in the United States. Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson is currently director and chief curator of the Aspen Art Museum.

06 May, 2010

The 17th Biennale of Sydney will take place in venues and sites around Sydney Harbour, including: Cockatoo Island, Pier 2/3, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Opera House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Artspace and the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Grand Court).

05 May, 2010

The biennial festival, which celebrates and showcases the work of young and emerging artists, will this year focus on the theme No Risk Too Great.

The program presents fifty three projects by more than 300 artists from Victoria, Australia and across Asia. Performances, exhibitions and installations will be staged in galleries and theatres across the city as well as less conventional spaces including the MCG, laneways, Melbourne's City Square and the Melbourne Museum Plaza.